2014 Astros: Game-by-game

TORONTO — Astros manager Bo Porter did not challenge exactly what he thought he did Tuesday night. He didn’t think he challenged anything at all, in fact, when a play at the plate and subsequent review showed just how confusing MLB’s new replay and collision rules can be — even for a field manager.

The questioned moment came late in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays, a game the Astros probably would have lost anyway. They were 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and are 7-for-58 (.121) on the season.

You have a better chance finding them on TV than you do seeing them drive a man home.

They’ll hit eventually. And lefty Brett Oberholtzer, who fell to 0-2 with another decent outing, eventually will get a victory.

But it might be some time before the entirety of the league understands the rules of challenges and the guidelines for catchers blocking the plate.

The disputed moment came when the Astros, trailing 5-2, were batting with one out in the top of the eighth inning and runners on second and third.

Action at the plate

In his first trip to the plate since falling ill with a stomach virus, Dexter Fowler tapped a dribbler to the left side as a pinch hitter. L.J. Hoes, the runner on third, broke for home, while Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil bounced off the mound toward the third-base line and made a backhand flip to the plate.

Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro, positioned in front of the plate before the ball arrived, got the ball before Hoes arrived and made the tag. Hoes was ruled out.

Porter immediately ran out to talk to plate umpire Mike Estabrook and crew chief Jerry Layne, and a review was initiated.

That’s what Porter wanted — a review. But he didn’t think he actually issued a challenge to get it.

“That wasn’t a challenge,” Porter said. “It was after the sixth inning, so it was more to the umpires’ discretion. One, I felt like (Navarro) blocked the plate before he had the ball. And two, I thought Hoes cut underneath the tag. I felt like he tagged him a little high. I thought his foot may have gotten in there.

“After the sixth inning, you know, it’s to the umpires’ discretion. They can decide to go look at it. Now, I asked them to go look at it, and because it’s the seventh to the ninth inning, they decided that it’s a close enough play that they should go look at it.”

That’s not quite how the rules work. Had Porter been out of challenges in the seventh inning or later, then, yes, the umpiring crew could have taken it on themselves to review the play.

But with a challenge still remaining, Porter was not only capable of challenging, he actually had to use it at that stage of the game if the question was just safe or out at the plate, an official familiar with the call said.

And that’s exactly the way the umpires took it — that Porter had issued a challenge.

“According to our replay official, this was a manager challenge regarding safe/out at home plate,” an MLB spokesperson told the Chronicle in the only comment available Tuesday night.

There’s another misunderstanding here, though.

Porter thought both the safe/out call as well as the block of the plate were reviewed. That was not the case.

Block not reviewed

The umpires reviewed only the safe/out call, an official familiar with the ruling told the Chronicle.

Whether Navarro improperly blocked the plate is reviewable — but only if the umpires themselves want it to be. It cannot be challenged.

Had the crew decided to review that, then all of the call, including safe/out, would have been reviewed.

But in this instance, the block of the plate was not looked at. And had it been, no violation would have been observed anyway, the official familiar with the ruling said.

Navarro stood in front of the plate before the ball got there. Before a catcher has the ball, he has to afford a runner a lane. What constitutes a lane? And why did Porter think he hadn’t officially challenged, when the umpires thought he did?

There’s a lot of learning to do on the fly.

“It’s just different,” Hoes said of the collision rules. “It’s different. You have to get used to the rules and play the game differently.

“From my point of view, he was blocking the plate,” Hoes continued. “Umpires’ judgment, umpires’ rules, and he ruled I was out.”